School calendar passes first hurdle

Published: Monday, December 10, 2012 at 11:09 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, December 10, 2012 at 11:09 p.m.

If given final approval next month, school will begin for most Henderson County students on Aug. 26, 2013 and end on June 6, 2014 under a draft calendar backed Monday by the Board of Education.

On first reading, the school board voted 5-0 in favor of draft 2013-14 calendars for both traditional and year-round schools. Each has 180 instructional days, 11 holidays, 10 annual leave days, seven optional workdays and seven required teacher workdays.

For the county’s year-round schools, Bruce Drysdale Elementary and Hendersonville Elementary, the proposed first day of school is July 11, 2013 and the last day of school is June 3, 2014.

A calendar committee made up of 21 administrators, teachers, students, parents and office staff drafted the calendars in mid-November, following new, more flexible, rules adopted last summer by the N.C. General Assembly.

Under the new state rules, school districts may create calendars with either 185 classroom days or at least 1,025 instructional hours. Formerly, districts had to schedule both 180 days and at least 1,000 hours of instruction.

Assistant Superintendent Bill Parker said the draft calendar still affords the system 1,110 hours for even elementary schools, which have the shortest instructional days: 6 hours and 15 minutes between bells, excluding lunch.

Board member Rick Wood asked if the proposed calendars provided enough of a buffer to compensate for lost school days due to snow or ice.

“Under this calendar… if we were to run into a lot of bad weather in the spring, would this give us some options if we chose to go 178, 179 days? We could do that, based on the hours that we put in?,” he asked.

Parker responded that “even with the (five) early dismissal days that are built in here, we still have — for lack of a better word — flexibility or wiggle room so that we will come in well above the 1,025.”

Board member Mary Louise Corn said she appreciated the workdays built in at the end of the nine weeks and the semester.

Though the district could technically squeeze 1,025 hours into as few as 167 days, Parker said “we feel as a school district that to continue with the integrity of our programs and success in Henderson County, to go well below 180 days would do a disservice to our students.”

The proposed 2013-14 calendar for the Early College High School hasn’t been developed yet, he said, because it has to be coordinated with Blue Ridge Community College. Early College students take some high school courses and some classes at BRCC.

In other business, the school board unanimously approved, on first reading, a change to the personnel policy so that new hires will have their backgrounds checked electronically by a screening firm rather than being fingerprinted, as they have since 1999.

The change will save the county time and money, said Human Resources Director Bo Caldwell, while maintaining high standards for student safety. Currently, it costs at least $38 per search to run fingerprints on potential employees, which can take from 11 days to six weeks.

By contracting with the Background Investigation Bureau, a national employment screening firm serving two-thirds of all N.C. school systems, the district will get results within two days — on average — for roughly $18 per candidate. That adds up to a savings of roughly $10,000 per year, Caldwell said.

He said BIB’s computer system is also more efficient and easier to use than the current fingerprint-based checks.

“With the current system, you have to wait until Thursday to be fingerprinted,” Caldwell said. “Therefore, for us going ahead and hiring somebody on Friday, we can have results back on Monday, versus waiting until Thursday before the process even begins.”

<p>If given final approval next month, school will begin for most Henderson County students on Aug. 26, 2013 and end on June 6, 2014 under a draft calendar backed Monday by the Board of Education.</p><p>On first reading, the school board voted 5-0 in favor of draft 2013-14 calendars for both traditional and year-round schools. Each has 180 instructional days, 11 holidays, 10 annual leave days, seven optional workdays and seven required teacher workdays.</p><p>For the county's year-round schools, Bruce Drysdale Elementary and Hendersonville Elementary, the proposed first day of school is July 11, 2013 and the last day of school is June 3, 2014. </p><p>A calendar committee made up of 21 administrators, teachers, students, parents and office staff drafted the calendars in mid-November, following new, more flexible, rules adopted last summer by the N.C. General Assembly.</p><p>Under the new state rules, school districts may create calendars with either 185 classroom days or at least 1,025 instructional hours. Formerly, districts had to schedule both 180 days and at least 1,000 hours of instruction. </p><p>Assistant Superintendent Bill Parker said the draft calendar still affords the system 1,110 hours for even elementary schools, which have the shortest instructional days: 6 hours and 15 minutes between bells, excluding lunch.</p><p>Board member Rick Wood asked if the proposed calendars provided enough of a buffer to compensate for lost school days due to snow or ice.</p><p>“Under this calendar… if we were to run into a lot of bad weather in the spring, would this give us some options if we chose to go 178, 179 days? We could do that, based on the hours that we put in?,” he asked.</p><p>Parker responded that “even with the (five) early dismissal days that are built in here, we still have — for lack of a better word — flexibility or wiggle room so that we will come in well above the 1,025.”</p><p>Board member Mary Louise Corn said she appreciated the workdays built in at the end of the nine weeks and the semester. </p><p>Though the district could technically squeeze 1,025 hours into as few as 167 days, Parker said “we feel as a school district that to continue with the integrity of our programs and success in Henderson County, to go well below 180 days would do a disservice to our students.”</p><p>The proposed 2013-14 calendar for the Early College High School hasn't been developed yet, he said, because it has to be coordinated with Blue Ridge Community College. Early College students take some high school courses and some classes at BRCC.</p><p>In other business, the school board unanimously approved, on first reading, a change to the personnel policy so that new hires will have their backgrounds checked electronically by a screening firm rather than being fingerprinted, as they have since 1999.</p><p>The change will save the county time and money, said Human Resources Director Bo Caldwell, while maintaining high standards for student safety. Currently, it costs at least $38 per search to run fingerprints on potential employees, which can take from 11 days to six weeks. </p><p>By contracting with the Background Investigation Bureau, a national employment screening firm serving two-thirds of all N.C. school systems, the district will get results within two days — on average — for roughly $18 per candidate. That adds up to a savings of roughly $10,000 per year, Caldwell said. </p><p>He said BIB's computer system is also more efficient and easier to use than the current fingerprint-based checks.</p><p>“With the current system, you have to wait until Thursday to be fingerprinted,” Caldwell said. “Therefore, for us going ahead and hiring somebody on Friday, we can have results back on Monday, versus waiting until Thursday before the process even begins.”</p>